Antifertility effect of continuous low-dosage oral progestogen therapy.

Disease in Schoolchildren-Henderson MWIBR JOUL 263 subnormality and were at local health authority training centres, in subnormality hospitals, or at home. And, for good measure, it must be mentioned that in 1965 1,172 girls under the age of 16 years had an illegitimate baby; 190 boys and girls under the age of 16 years were treated at venereal, diseases clinics, but very few of them were known to be at school; about 63,000 of those under 17 years of age were found guilty of indictable offences (mainly larceny and breaking and entering); and almost 70,000 of those under the age of 18 years were in the care of local authorities on 31 March 1967. They add up to a formidable total, and present educational, medical, and social problems of greater or less degree; their management depends on a close working partnership between education, medicine, and the other social services. They are the very stuff of present-day paediatrics and will be the subject of my second lecture. But we must keep all this in perspective and remember that although mdny schoolboys and schoolgirls have defects and disabilities that retard their development and education, and some are permanently incapacitated, the big majority are healthy, without handicap of any kind, and are well-behaved; and this I emphasize. There always have been those who have criticized the younger generation, and so it is today; but I am not of their company. In my opinion the present generation of children and young people compare favourably with their predecessors and I believe that our society will be safe in their hands. [The second lecture will appear in next week's issue. Inhibition of fertility with progesterone and 19-norsteroids was first reported by Pincus et al. (1958); it was evident that progestogens in adequate dosage inhibited ovulation. The use of injectable long-acting progestogens without oestrogens for fertility control was reported by us in 1965. It was shown that medroxyprogesterone acetate 250 to 500 mg. intramuscu-larly induced ovulation inhibition for a period of at least six months (Zafiartu and Navarro, 1965; Zaflartu et al., 1965). However, it was soon observed that in subjects receiving one single injection fertility was still inhibited for two or more months even after ovulation was re-established, as shown by the existence of corpus luteum under macroscopic and micro-scopical exinaton of the ovaries (Zafiartu et al., 1965). It was felt that the effect of injected …